I'm up for buying some new pedals (been riding platform forever and making the transition, my new shoes are SPD's) I'm wondering with the variety what do most recumbent riders use, caged, single or double sided or touring? And your opinions of the benefits of you choice, thanks.

Hi Storm,I run a GT3 and a TWBents Attack and run single sided spd pedals on both. Often will do a short ride on the GT3 without cycling shoes so find the pedals worthwhile. Never ride the Attack without my cycling shoes and have feel the height and outcome of dropping a shoe off the pedal while riding not worth the risk for me not to use cleats. I would change the Attack pedals to double sided but leave the GT3 single sided/platform for versitility.

Egg Beaters with Specialized MTB shoes are pretty good for all my commuting and long distance stuff.Nice amount of float.

Just bought a pair of LOOK Keos and some racing Specialized shoes for speed efforts on the Batmobent (NoCom) and in a full fairing because of the Narrow Q factor. Started wearing out the soft rubber heel piece on some of the tight corners first time out on the track.

Crank Bros Candy pedals. (Eggbeaters with a small platform) and Shimano MTB shoes. They work for me, with easy and reliable clip-ins and releases. The downside is that you can't test ride SPD-equipped bikes....

The platform on the Candy pedals may well spread some of the load on the sole of the shoe, but only if there is shoe sole there to spread the load on. I am perpetually renewing a thin layer of Shoe Goo on the left shoe sole to replace material abraded by putting that foot down with a small skid when stopping. Also to assure that the cleat does not become exposed so I don't wear it away walking about on footpaths.

Egg beater cleats can get expensive to replace.Anyone interested (or cheap) I can show you how to refurbish the brass cleat and get another life out of them.Got extra 10km out of last pair I refurbished.Pete

Eggbeaters, stainless.Have Shimano 520's, I think its the one with platform one side and spd the other. A very nicely made pedal and is now on my mtb.Tried Speedplay frogs. Some people swear by them but I swear at them. Reason. In a panic stop or any panic moment on the bike the Speedplays will open like a door only when the cleat is turned to the right angle. Unlike the other types mentioned you can rip your foot out of the cleats with enough force such as when you suddenly stop for traffic or a dog or another cyclist cutting you off at the lights. Trying to rip your foot out just results in an intimate contact with Ms. Bitumen. Also tried some cheap ($20) online Shimano (?) compatible spd's and they went in the bin after one ride. Wouldn't even consider reselling them because my conscious won't allow it.So! My favourite amonst them all... Crank Bros Eggbeaters. Simple in, easy out. Downside is the cleat wear but mine have done about 10,000 k and on their last legs but I'm keeping them going till kaput to see how far they will go. Then I'll see Poit to get that extra 10K's out of them

Poiter wrote:Egg beater cleats can get expensive to replace.Anyone interested (or cheap) I can show you how to refurbish the brass cleat and get another life out of them.Got extra 10km out of last pair I refurbished.Pete

There are 2 types of EB cleat, the standard and the deluxe, and IMHO, not a great deal of difference in function but a significant difference in price.

deluxe RB cleats can be had for about $26, street or EBay price, and while that's not cheap, I'm not sure it's worth breaking out the brazing kit to refurbish a pair.

Not on a recumbent... but I killed two sets of EggBeater SL's. One broke a spring after 2000km, and the other pair wore out, ie the springs became loose and I started pulling the cleats out. And I never made it to the recommended 300 hour grease session, the shaft bushes would die after about 150 - 200 hours. Not sure if they are recumbent friendly, but I can't recommend Speedplay's highly enough for durability and robustness.

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